Monday, December 26, 2011

I'm thinking about setting up an online VegCookbook Club in 2012. Would you like to be a part of it?

You don't have to be a vegetarian, or vegan (I'm not) to join, you just have to want to eat less meat. You could join for a variety of reasons: environmental, animal rights, health, or because you want a creative cooking challenge.

Here's how I'm thinking it would work (I'm open to suggestions):

I'd select a vegetarian, or vegan cookbook for us to cook from during the month.

Each Meatless Monday I'll post about recipes that I tried from the cookbook.

You share the recipes you tried, how they turned out, and any changes you made as a comment, a link to your blog post, or a link to a Flickr photo of what you made.

On the last Meatless Monday of the month, I'll do a round up post of some of our comments, blog posts and photos, and announce next month's VegCookbook.

Does that sound like fun to you?

Which of these VegCookbooks are you the most excited to cook from in January?

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

A few weeks ago a Facebook pal asked if they could give the Juicy Blogging E-Course as a gift. I asked the hubs if he would create a gift certificate for me, and here it is! Isn't it cute?

The next Juicy Blogging E-Course runs from January 25-February 15, 2012. The class consists of three kinds of fun-work:

Reflection questions to refine your blog’s purpose

Connection assignments to build community and traffic

Creative and juicy blog post prompts to get you writing

You'll find more info, and can purchase the class on brittbravo.com. If you'd like to give the e-course as a gift, just purchase the class for yourself, and then email me at britt AT brittbravo DOT com with:

Your gift recipient's first and last name

Your gift recipient's email

The date I can contact the gift recipient with more information about the class ( I don't want to ruin the surprise!)

I'll email the gift certificate to you as a PDF so you can give it to them yourself (:

Love List: A Have Fun, Do Good Holiday Gift
Want a great do-good, feel-good holiday gift that doesn’t cost a dime? A Love List is one of the best gifts you can give someone. It's simple and fun to create. Here’s what you do:

1. Set aside an hour to make your Love List.

2. Play some music and maybe dig up a photo of the gift recipient. (That’s for inspiration, but you might decide to include it as part of the presentation!)

3. Get out a pen and paper and start thinking about things you love about this person. Let yourself be open to all the thoughts that drop in.

Do you love her laugh?

The way she greets you with a warm hug whenever you see her?

Those Rilke poems she gave you?

The memory of your college trip to Paris when you wore the blue beret and she donned the red one?!

Let yourself brainstorm about who she is, things she does, what you’ve learned from her, funny stories, and favorite memories. Give yourself permission to be as silly, sweet, sincere, or sarcastic as you want! This gift is about being exactly who you are and reflecting back to her who she is to you.

4. Once you have your list, you can present it as-is, or get creative. I've posted a video on Simply Celebrate that will give some ideas on creative ways to present your Love List. You can also request a free Love List download that will give you even more ideas for how to present your Love List, as well as a ready-made list to complete.

People are always thinking of original and fun ways to turn their lists into a unique gift. I’d LOVE to hear yours!

The Love List feels good to make and is great to receive. I hope you’ll try one for someone you dearly love!

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

"It's important to never lose track of leveraging the strengths of the people that we serve. I think that when you take a strengths-based approach to working with folks who are struggling in some way, it's part of the way that you build optimism. It's one of the most important ways that you position the people that you're serving to be successful over time. ~ Ben Mangan, EARN

Ben Mangan is the President, CEO, and Co-Founder of the nonprofit, EARN.
Since 2001, EARN has helped tens of thousands of low-income people
enter the financial mainstream, and move toward prosperity with savings
accounts for the unbanked, and matched accounts for low wage workers to
invest in education, first homes, and microenterprise.

Ben has more than 15 years of experience in policy leadership,
innovation and strategic management. Ben was the Midwest Practice
Leader for Ernst and Young's Public Private Development Group in
Chicago, and served as Director of Organizational Strategy for the
international micro-payments company, beenz.com.

He is a regular blogger for the Huffington Post and SFGate, and
serves as a lecturer on the faculty of the Haas School of Business at UC
Berkeley. He holds a Bachelor of Arts from Vassar College (which is how I know him), and a Master
of Public Policy from Harvard University's Kennedy School.

You can listen and subscribe to the Big Vision Podcast via iTunes,
or on the player above. If you have suggestions for people I should
interview, please email me at britt AT brittbravo DOT com.

Monday, December 05, 2011

"Friendship is the only cement that will ever hold the world together." -Woodrow Wilson

No Meatless Monday post today 'cause instead of trying new recipes, I spent the week getting reading for a reunion with three old friends. Spending time with them was like having an endless bowl of delicious and nourishing soup.